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Billy Collins Quotes

American - Poet | March 22, 1941 -

I find that my reading, particularly nonfiction, can inspire a poem as well as anything else.

Reading Inspire Find Anything Well

The obituaries shot up to the top of my list when I discovered Robert McG. Thomas, the 'Times' obit writer who redesigned its traditional form and added a measure of stylistic elegance.

Elegance Measure Top Up Who Writer

Now that I'm older, a real source of interest is the ages of the dead, the number; the day is off to an optimistic start when the departed are all older than I.

Day Start Now Dead Real Source

I first came across 'The Lake Isle of Innisfree' in college, with other anthologized poems by Yeats.

College Lake First Poems Other Came

One of the disadvantages of poetry over popular music is that if you write a pop song, it naturally gets into people's heads as they listen in the car. You don't have to memorize a Paul Simon song; it's just in your head, and you can sing along. With a poem, you have to will yourself to memorize it.

Car Music Yourself Poetry People

I'm not a claustrophobe, but you don't need to be to feel claustrophobic inside an MRI. It's like being buried alive.

Feel You Alive Inside Need Being

I just reached the point where plot-driven novels don't hold my interest because I don't care about the fate of characters anymore - whether Emily marries Tom or not, that kind of thing.

Fate Care Kind Point Hold Interest

Discovering Samuel Beckett in college was a big deal for me. I realized you could be very funny and very dark at the same time.

Funny Time College Me You Dark

I'm an only child, and I can take all the attention you manage to pile on me.

Child Me Attention You I Can Take

For most Americans, poetry plays no role in their everyday lives. But also for most Americans, contemporary painting or jazz or sculpture play no role either. I'm not saying poetry is singled out as a special thing to ignore.

Poetry Painting Saying Ignore Play

People think of poetry as a school subject... Poetry is very frustrating to students because they don't have a taste for ambiguity, for one thing. That gives them a poetry hangover.

School Poetry People Think Taste

My persona is less miserable than a lot of contemporary poetry speakers are.

Poetry Miserable Contemporary Persona

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